How Rupal Sidhpura Faria makes Bollywood stars bendy like Gumby

Yoga practitioner Rupal Sidhpura Faria, who caters to the crème de la crème of B-Town, on addressing health issues with one art

Prenatal yoga

Prenatal yoga is as interesting as it is complicated. You’re dealing with hormonal women who don’t want to work out. Pre and post-natal regimens can only be crafted on learning the client’s history. Soha Ali Khan is experimental. I began training her in her fourth month of pregnancy. The thing with pregnancy is that things change by the week. There is so much that happens, especially in the second trimester, that the body can feel significantly different in the first two weeks of the fifth month than in the last two. We had to alter workouts accordingly. With Soha, we made her do exercises like sweeping the floor while doing a duck walk, in her fifth month. 

That is something we couldn’t do in the first month because it involves deep squats which would put pressure on the groin. One celebrity came to me with a low-lying placenta. I trained her in seated and supine postures over routines that changed weekly. Her placenta was in place in five months. 

Kareena Kapoor doesn’t like to train during her pregnancy; she prefers to enjoy the phase. I started training her after her first pregnancy, and have been doing so since then. She’s enthusiastic; even if she begins the workout nagging about how strenuous it is, she’s willing to perform further sets, once she commences. I negotiate an intense workout plan by not letting clients think too much, and engaging them in conversation. 

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Tending to joint aches

Anurag [Kashyap] is into Crossfit. So, with him, I knew I was dealing with a tight body. He is also muscular, and, when we began working together, he could barely do a forward bend, or twist. He has improved a lot. Physical flexibility makes you mentally flexible. I have been able to keep infections at bay for him with jalneti. He also had joint issues, which had become more pronounced in the last few months. In fact, currently, I am taking him through a seven-day plan catering to training the joints alone. When anyone comes to me with joint problems, that is a factor that must be dealt with before planning any other routine. It’s not something that needs to be kept in the background and avoided. People cut out ghee and oil. But, how will your joints stay lubricated without them? We usually begin with mobility work, spend the first four days on strengthening the joints, and the remaining three in stretching them. Anurag had gone through an angioplasty recently. After vaccination, he experienced pronounced after-effects. His gut health also needs to improve, so, we are factoring in that too. 

Flexibility

With Saif [Ali Khan], we were dealing with two factors — weight-loss and flexibility. I began working with him during Laal Kaptaan, in which he needed to showcase a muscular body. We travelled to Rajasthan for the shoot, and trained twice a day, taking to yoga once, and strength-training later. I often say that the person that you are on the mat reflects in your personality off it, and vice-versa. Saif is extremely flexible, mentally. He easily lets go of [stressful] situations, and is always ready to evolve and take advice, even from someone less experienced. That reflects on the mat too, because he is willing to explore different perspectives [of yoga]. It is easy to pull him away one form of regimen and introduce him to another, which enables him to reap benefits. He could pull-off fight sequences due to these changes.

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Mental health

Zoya Akhtar had an erratic work schedule and was looking to take to a fitness routine. She has great strength, but would feel stiff, despite doing classes regularly. We trained daily during the first lockdown, and took to a mix of functional training and yoga. When I establish a routine, the first thing I look into is including yoga into it. Apart from pranayams, I talk to my students a lot to know what they are thinking. She was eager to take to a weight-loss programme, but I had to draw her attention to how she would instead benefit from a holistic plan.

The cheats: Shamita Shetty

What’s your cheat meal: Chicken biryani, chicken Thai green curry, apple pie or chocolates.
How often do you indulge: Whenever I crave for it. I will train extra later, but I won’t avoid it unless I have a shoot in the pipeline.
Cheat meal vs cheat day: It is usually a cheat day.
Do you compensate for it: I don’t alter my routine but I will do an extra hour of cardiovascular work the next day. 

On my gym: Gurmeet Choudhary

Bhaag Milkha 
Bhaag
Lakshya
Songs of 
Iqbal

Fitness tip that works for

Mahesh Shetty
Calisthenics, running, walking and executing a lot of free-hand exercises has been helpful. I am not a gym person and would rather run in the woods or a jungle. 

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